Loci

ISSN 1941-9198

Welcome to Loci, the online publication of the Mathematical Sciences Digital Library.

Loci has a new Editor!

The Mathematical Association of America has named Thomas E. Leathrum as the Editor of Loci. Tom will begin his role as Editor immediately, with a transition team including Kyle Siegrist (previously Editor of the Journal of Online Math and its Applications), Victor Katz (previously Editor of Convergence), and Doug Ensley (previously Editor of Digital Classroom Resources). We thank the Search Committee, chaired by Lang Moore, Executive Director of MathDL and Professor Emeritus at Duke University, for its hard work and dedication in finding the best person for the job.

Tom Leathrum received his Bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1988, Master's degree from Dartmouth College in 1990, and Ph.D. from Dartmouth in 1993. Tom's primary mathematical research interests have been in logic, combinatorial set theory, and foundations of mathematics. Tom is Associate Professor of Mathematics at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. He has been at JSU since 1998.

Tom has been interested in mathematics software for many years. In the period 1991-93, he introduced and collaboratively developed the mfpic package for including mathematical graphics in TeX documents. Beginning in 1998 and continuing to the present, Tom has developed a well-regarded set of Java applets for focused mathematical exploration and visualization. Recently, Tom has developed the Content Pseudo-TeX Translator Applet, a tool for authors to simplify use of Content MathML mark-up in online documents. Tom has served as a Contributing Co-Editor for the Developers Area of JOMA since 2001.

Featured Items:
Notes From the Editor Some introductory remarks from the new Editor of Loci.		Generalized Baseball Curves: Three Symmetries and You're In! The curve traced out on a baseball by its seam has many symmetries. This article explores the class of closed spherical curves with the same symmetries, which we call generalized baseball curves.
Modeling a Changing World Events in our world are often modeled with differential equations. This article develops numerical solvers for ODEs. Interactive applets explore topics including slope fields and numerically solving definite integrals and differential equations.		Chemical Graph Theory Chemical Graph theory is used to model physical properties of molecules called alkanes. Java applets allow for interactive exploration of molecules. A student project and discussion of its application are included, along with spreadsheets of model data.
Mathematical Brooding over an Egg This article explores how mathematical techniques, digital images, and dynamic geometry software can be used to analyze a real-world situation originating from poultry science. The topic is mathematical modeling of the shape of an egg, where the underlying question is: What is the volume and surface area of a hen's egg?"

Loci: Convergence Convergence provides a wealth of resources to help teach mathematics using its history. Go to Loci: Convergence		Loci: Resources Resources provides a select collection of free online learning materials which are available through the site. These materials have been classroom tested and peer reviewed. Go to Loci: Resources

Report Problems, Make Suggestions

Loci is a new publication being delivered on a newly-revised MathDL content management system. While we have done extensive testing, some problems are still likely to be present. If you see one of these, please send an email to the MAA Webmaster

For suggestions for changes in the design or presentation of Loci, contact the MathDL Executive Editor, Lang Moore.